Customer Reviews

The Shadow Riders

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"The Shadow Riders" has all the grit, matter-of-fact speech, incredible landscapes and action of a great Louis L'Amour book. Tom Selleck, Sam Elliot and Jeff Osterhage also starred in "The Sacketts" in 1979, and do just as fine a job in this movie as that one.

The part that will surprise you is how strong the female lead role is. Katharine Ross does an excellent job as the fiesty Kate Connery, the love interest of Dal Travern (Sam Elliot). She had as good a character and as much screen time as many of today's heriones -- a highly unusual circumstance in the early 80s and certainly unusual for the genre.

"The Shadow Riders" has a great mix of romance, action, humor and good old fashioned Western elements. This mix makes the film appealing to a much wider audience than just Western fans or Louis L'Amour fans -- although they will come away thrilled.

This movie is based on the book by Louis L'Amour by the same name. It doesn't follow the book too closely (which usually bothers me, but they did this very well) but still came up with a very entertaining movie that hangs well together. The story is about 3 brothers and two sisters. Two of the brothers fought on opposite sides of the Civil War, but meet up just as the war has ended when renegades are about to hang one of them. They go home to discover that more renegades have stolen the third brother and both little sisters. This movie has some great actors in it and it's just a good all-around entertainment movie.

This review is not regarding the actual film itself, but rather the poor quality of this DVD release.

The transfer used on this "25th Anniversary Edition" DVD is of VHS quality. The colors are extremely dull and washed out, and it's clear that the print did not come from a film source.

This is quite surprising considering the transfer used on the Trimark DVD released way back in 1998 did come from a good looking film print! That is still the version to get if you're seeking the best looking transfer available on DVD.

The 5.1 audio mix used is also quite generic. It has no extra depth over the original 2.0 mix, and even sounds "tinny" in a fake sort of way.

They've also shoved all of the bonus material onto a single-layer disc, and thus compression artifacts are often very noticeable.

The bonus features on the disc are interesting, but nothing to scream home about. And you can find all of these features on the previous "Collector's Edition" that this same DVD studio released in 2005.

The day of John Wayne, James Stewart, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, and the rest is gone. They made Westerns when there were still people alive who knew what the old west was really like and gave them pointers. When Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot made a few Westerns several years ago, they may not be quite up to the standards of classics like the "Magnificent Seven", "High Noon", and "Hondo" but I personally think they are excellent and a far cry better than any other Westerns made in the last 20 years. The cast even includes a few old timers from the classic Westerns like Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr. which is a real treat since they have still got what it takes to create a great character. With the upcoming release of "The Sacketts" you have all the more reason to view it and this as they go together like a set. I recommend purchasing them both and "The Last Stand at Saber River", "Crossfire Trail", and "Conagher". All excellent modern Westerns with Tom Selleck and/or Sam Elliot.

Even though this movie was made in 1982, I just saw it for the first time. The people involved gave good performances. A good story line went along with good action and humorous scenes. A good movie for fans of Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott.

Two brothers, split by the Civil War (Northern War of Aggression)come together. Selleck and Elliot are a good pair playing equal roles without apparent competition. Subtle humor carries the plot as well. A movie for brothers to watch together.

This is an excellent western film. You should consider watching it for Ben Johnson's role, alone. Mr. Johnson is a great western film actor, and his role as "Uncle Jack" is superb. If you enjoy western genre, I suggest you consider adding this film to your collection. The team of Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, and Jeff Osterhage is an excellent mix. I hope Hollywood will take advantage of this talented team and put these guys together again soon. Buy the DVD; you won't be disappointed.

Having both read the book and seen the movie I would say that this is one of the best western books I have ever read. The movie was also very good but lacked some of the information that the novel had. I would say that if you like the movie then you would almost certainly love the book.

The Shadow Riders DVD

The Shadow Riders is based on the book by that name by my favorite western author, Louis L'Amour and stars my two favorite western stars, Sam Elliott and Tom Selleck, how could you miss? The movie is a hit with me.

Highly recommended for Louis L'Amour fans and western fans.

Gunner December, 2007

This movie was made in 1982 and based on Louis L'Amour's novel by the same name.It is now 25 years later and still excellent entertainment. This western is done much like those great ones we loved so much starring John Wayne. It has a good,fast moving storyline with a teriffic cast portraying strong characters. It is a straight forward saga ,stays focused and the viewer has only one thing to do---just sit back and enjoy it. Where this western is quite different is that it takes place at the very end of the Civil War when soldiers are returning home. This was a particularly difficult time because circumstances often set brother against brother,and relative against relative. You can't get more personal than this, where one brother wears the Gray and the other the Blue as they get together to make things right after others try to carry out revenge after the war.